I am a therapist who is driven by helping individuals, couples, and families explore the parts of their lives that have previously been rendered unspoken or marginalized. People can alter, censor, or moderate parts of themselves, including what is causing them pain, in response to both internal and external pressures. I create an environment in therapy where each individual, partner, or family member can bring all of themselves into the room. I support people to gain a fuller understanding of who they are, their emotional experiences, their histories, and how they relate to the people and world around them. With this awareness, patients can reflect on and work to change the dynamics that contributed to their suffering in order to grow.
No one’s life can be fully encapsulated by a diagnosis or set of symptoms. I am cognizant of the uniqueness of every individual, couple, or family. Prior to becoming a therapist, I served as a director of a large division of a significant New York City urban park. While both therapy and landscaping require patience, deep thought, and creativity, the most valuable observation I took from that role, which continues to inform my clinical practice, is the depth and distinctiveness of each human’s situation. Suffering can appear different depending on a mix of diverse factors such as race, class, immigration status, family dynamics, personal histories, and temperaments.
Although close enough then to understand my coworkers’ joys and challenges, I pursued becoming a therapist in order to be in a position to do the deeper work I wanted: helping people create a better, healthier life. I take this passion with me by remaining attuned to what patients need rather than cookie-cutter solutions.
Psychotherapy at its best can provide an opportunity to explore issues of power, privilege, and difference. Previously working with LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as pursuing additional training in gender and sexuality, I understand how societal issues, such as norms around gender, sexual identity, and sex, impact everyone’s emotional life, whether one adheres to conventions or moves away from them. Each individual’s emotional life is composed of overlapping systems, from family of origin to sociocultural factors like structural oppression, which also affect the health and functioning of a couple’s or family’s relationship dynamic. I help patients situate their struggles within the context of these systems in order to gain a fresh perspective. Through this work, they can come to relate differently to feelings of shame, regret, anger, or numbness, which can pave the way forward for change.
Teens can be subject to a huge amount of projection from adults and society about what it is to be an adolescent. Adults tend to be both fascinated by and conflicted about their own teenage years, which can impede their ability to be truly present with teens. In therapy with teens, I am attentive to the ways teens can be vulnerable to both these projections from adults, as well as their own emotional lives. As teens experiment with and shape who they are while growing into adulthood, I take seriously the big feelings teens can confront related to their identity, belonging, society, and family.